To fill an array with zeroes, use:

    @a = (0) x 143;    # 143 zeroes
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Or if the array already has the length you want, and you want to make every element zero, use:

    @a = (0) x @a;     # every element set to zero
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But often, the best thing to do is just destroy what's in the array:

    undef @a;
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If you undefine the array, and then try to look at the elements, they will be undefined, and an undefined array element behaves like 0 if you use it as a number. For example:

    undef @a;
    $z = $a[3] + 12;
    print $z;
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This prints 12.